Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said some annual pass prices are rising. All annual pass prices are either being lowered or left unchanged. SeaWorld Orlando said Friday that it will raise base ticket prices to nearly $80, joining rivals Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando. But the resort at the same time will reduce the price of its popular "Fun Cards," which allow Florida residents to make repeated visits to the park with the purchase of a single-day ticket.

Celebration-based Apptasmic has released a new iPhone app that gives up-to-date ride info and dining wait times at both Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando. According to Apptasmic, the Orlando Theme Parks app allows iOS users to make more effective park-touring decisions with an array of real-time features. The app also has maps of both attractions and can tell users where they are in the parks, thanks to a GPS function. The app also gives information about various shows, character greetings, parades and park hours, as well.

By Todd Pack and Robert Johnson, Sentinel Staff Writers, January 20, 2003

Central Florida's No. 1 industry will continue slouching toward recovery in the coming year. Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando expect the mini-boom they enjoyed over Christmas and even beyond New Year's to provide momentum this year. Both are opening new attractions this year, including the much-anticipated $100 million Mission: Space thrill ride at Epcot and the Shrek show at Universal Studios. Such attractions underscore the commitment by Disney and Universal to refresh their parks despite the travel slump that worsened with the September 2001 terrorism attacks.

Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said some annual pass prices are rising. All annual pass prices are either being lowered or left unchanged. SeaWorld Orlando said Friday that it will raise base ticket prices to nearly $80, joining rivals Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando. But the resort at the same time will reduce the price of its popular "Fun Cards," which allow Florida residents to make repeated visits to the park with the purchase of a single-day ticket.

The Jungle Cruise, considered one of the "classic" rides at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, proved quite a challenge to re-create at Tokyo Disneyland. The attraction was even more of a struggle when Disney built a theme park in Hong Kong. And it wasn't even attempted at Disneyland Paris. The problems were not technological or logistical. Rather, they involved language and culture. For example, imagine this standard Jungle Cruise joke, told by the ride's "cruise director" as passengers file onto the boat in Disney World's Magic Kingdom: "Please do not cross over the center seat.

Walt Disney World held the first ''Grad Nite'' celebration 21 years ago, opening its gates to high school seniors in bell-bottoms and stack heels. They whooped it up to Paul Revere and the Raiders and the Staple Singers.Ever since, Disney had a lock on the all-night event - that is, until a party crasher came to town.Universal Studios Florida began its own grad night celebration in 1992. It is doubling the size of its party this year to two nights and expects at least 5,000 kids in a monster merry-making that lasts until 4 a.m.Disney's event is still much bigger - it began Friday and will span six nights, attracting 100,000 teen-agers.

When hundreds of Democratic activists sat down to dinner in a ballroom at Disney's Yacht & Beach Club resort last October, the final bill ran into the six figures. But the Florida Democratic Party, which had arranged the dinner as the centerpiece of its three-day convention in Orlando, didn't pay the tab. Walt Disney World did. The food-and-drink freebie, valued at $125,000, is one of 40 such gifts that Disney and Central Florida's other mega-resort, Universal Orlando, have given the state Democratic and Republican parties in the past seven years.

With Disney and Universal Studios gearing up to build new theme parks by the end of the century, Central Florida's tourism community is buzzing with speculation about what is in store for rival attractions.The consensus is that there will be some pain, but few mortal wounds.The battle was joined when Walt Disney World announced plans this week to open Disney's Wild Animal Kingdom in the spring of 1998. Universal is set to open its new park, Islands of Adventure, the following year.The two companies also plan to open new restaurants and nightclubs on their property.

Orlando's theme parks scrambled Wednesday to reopen, but not before taking up to a $12 million hit from hurricane-forced closings.SeaWorld and Universal Studios, which initially expected to be closed Wednesday, opened at midday after weather reports showed Hurricane Floyd moving away from Central Florida.But Universal's Islands of Adventure and three of Walt Disney World's parks remained shuttered. Animal Kingdom was open, but only for Disney guests.Disney and Universal, which plan to open all their parks today, said they couldn't pull together enough staff to open fully sooner.

Rayos is the associate managing editor for business news. She directs the coverage of business and tourism news, the daily and Sunday Money sections and Monday's CFB. She supervises 21 business staffers in Orlando as well as the Sentinel's Los Angeles reporter, who handles corporate coverage of Disney and Universal. She can be reached at 407-420-5582 or grayos@ orlando sentinel.com

While Walt Disney World's Fantasyland expansion and Universal Orlando's Wizarding World of Harry Potter will both be anchored by big new rides, some of the secondary attractions could prove every bit as important to the future of the resorts. Elaborate sets where guests can dance with princesses and a wand shop where the souvenir wands choose their buyers mark the latest efforts by Disney and Universal to make their parks more interactive with visitors. They are also among the earliest attempts to extend that interactivity beyond traditional rides and shows and into every corner of the sprawling resorts.

Universal Orlando laid off about 70 employees Thursday, as it and other resorts confront an increasingly dire economic outlook. Although the cuts amount to less than 1 percent of Universal's 13,000 local employees, they illustrate the company's growing concern about how theme-park attendance will fare this year as the sinking economy forces more cash-strapped consumers to cut back on travel. Universal would not identify the positions it eliminated. It described them as mostly management-level jobs, with some in administrative and support areas.

Universal Orlando said Friday that it had enjoyed another fiscal quarter of improved attendance, sales and profit -- the second local theme-park operator this week to report that it started the year by defying fears of a tourism slowdown. In a first-quarter financial report filed Friday with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, Universal City Development Partners posted a 6 percent increase in theme-park admissions; a 5 percent hike in per-visitor spending on food, drinks and merchandise; and a 12 percent boost in operating revenue for the three months that ended March 30, all compared with the same quarter last year.

When hundreds of Democratic activists sat down to dinner in a ballroom at Disney's Yacht & Beach Club resort last October, the final bill ran into the six figures. But the Florida Democratic Party, which had arranged the dinner as the centerpiece of its three-day convention in Orlando, didn't pay the tab. Walt Disney World did. The food-and-drink freebie, valued at $125,000, is one of 40 such gifts that Disney and Central Florida's other mega-resort, Universal Orlando, have given the state Democratic and Republican parties in the past seven years.

The Jungle Cruise, considered one of the "classic" rides at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, proved quite a challenge to re-create at Tokyo Disneyland. The attraction was even more of a struggle when Disney built a theme park in Hong Kong. And it wasn't even attempted at Disneyland Paris. The problems were not technological or logistical. Rather, they involved language and culture. For example, imagine this standard Jungle Cruise joke, told by the ride's "cruise director" as passengers file onto the boat in Disney World's Magic Kingdom: "Please do not cross over the center seat.

Visitors can get a taste of the Pacific at Central Florida's three major theme parks in the form of luaus. SeaWorld's nightly Aloha Polynesian Luau Dinner and Show features traditional music, song, dance and food from the islands of Hawaii. Dinner in Shivers Pavilion near Wild Arctic consists of Polynesian fare, and adults can purchase Anheuser-Busch beer at an additional charge. Food is served family-style. The main meal is kid-friendly, but chicken fingers are also available on request.

On Sunday, SeaWorld Orlando will follow the lead of its larger competitors and raise ticket prices by $2. The new prices - matching those charged by Disney and Universal - are $46 for adults and $37 for children ages 3 to 9, not including taxes. A SeaWorld spokesman attributed the increase to the ``escalating cost of doing business in Central Florida.'' The recent spate of price increases was started earlier this month by Disney and was followed quickly by Universal.

Two weeks after SeaWorld raised single-day adult admission prices $2 to $49.95 -- $52.95 with the 6 percent sales tax -- Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando are holding the line at $48. Neither Disney nor Universal would say on Tuesday whether it will add a couple bucks to ticket prices anytime soon. But whatever each does, this is the first year in many that the Big Three haven't raised ticket prices all at once. "I'm surprised," said Abe Pizam, a tourism-management professor at the University of Central Florida.

Walt Disney World made its summer discounts official Thursday: It will offer a seven-day package for the price of four as it tries to bring back tourists who have stayed away because of war worries. Orlando's tourism industry has been especially hard hit by the travel slump. Disney World's offer varies with the hotel's luxury level -- from $499 to $732 per week per adult, double occupancy, starting July 4. It includes passes to Disney's theme parks and water parks, and is slated to end Oct. 30. "This is going to get a lot of attention because Disney World isn't known for discounting," said Joe Antimuro, a travel agent in Chicago, one of the major markets that Disney is targeting with the new promotion.

SeaWorld on Thursday began leading a charge by Orlando theme parks to honor the military victors in Iraq by offering them free admission. Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando said they won't be far behind. SeaWorld's "Operation Salute" will award free single-day tickets to active-duty military and up to four "direct dependents" beginning on Memorial Day and concluding on Veterans Day, Nov. 11. The offer is also extended to all coalition forces serving with U.S. troops in Operation Iraqi Freedom.